Sunflower cookies

1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped or snipped
3 Tbsps. water or apple juice
1/2 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (dry) (I used old fashioned oats)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, divided

Combine raisins, apricots, and water or juice and microwave on high for one minute. Set aside to cool for about 10 mins. Meanwhile cream margarine or butter and sugars. Add egg. Add baking powder, flour, and oats. Blend. Drain fruit and add to dough along with about half of the sunflower seeds. Shape the dough into 1" balls. Place on cookie sheets and flatten slightly. Press on a few more sunflower seeds. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen delicious cookies.

This shows the raw cookies flattened slightly and topped with a few sunflower seeds:

Becka

I have finished up a couple of little girly projects, including:

Two more pink blankets:

A mesh bag for all the little socks that tend to get lost in the wash. (When Megan was a baby Rob came home from work one afternoon and when he changed clothes he discovered he had worn a shirt with a baby sock in the armpit all day.) I saw the idea on Pinterest but there were no instructions so I just had to come up with my own spin-off.

This little "toy" is like one I made for Ryan that he has really enjoyed playing with. It's just two pieces of flannel with a piece of crinkly plastic cut from an empty baby wipe container sewn inside. Babies seem to love hearing the noise from crinkly things. Ryan kept wanting to play with the baby wipe container so I thought I'd make him a toy from an old one. The plastic is a little hard to stitch. I found that it helped to put strips of tissue paper on top of the plastic and then it was much easier to stitch.

My dear husband got me a big bag of shelled pistachios last week so I made a batch of these cookies. They are really tasty and are a pretty Christmas cookie with the red cranberries and the green from the pistachios.

I have a question for the quilters who read my blog. I am using a spray adhesive to "baste" the layers of my quilt together this time. Have any of you used this technique before? So far it seems to be working very well.

Becka

I made several people these sets of kitchen towels and dishcloths:

I also made some Christmas themed insulated mats that can be used under casserole dishes:

Rob knitted flower headbands for Nora and Megan:

He also knitted a couple of shawls that are going to be worn in a campus production of Fiddler on the Roof this spring. Here's one of them:

I made a jungle themed quilt for Ryan but unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt. Here's a picture of the layout:

I made these little fleece sleep sacks for Ryan and the new baby girl:

I made another one of these wreaths from an old hymnal:

Jan, one of my faithful readers from Iowa sent me this delicious cookie recipe in a lovely Christmas card. I had some of the little Christmas cupcake liners which fit into the mini muffin tins and decided to use them even though I did make them after Christmas. These cookies are quite tasty and would also work for Valentine's Day or for a shower or tea.

Cherry Miniatures

1 3 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (I used almond extract)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
(plus more for decoration)
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans) (almonds might be good too)

Glaze Ingredients:
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
approximately 1 Tbsp. cherry juice

Cream softened cream cheese and butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add combined dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir in cherries and nuts. Place rounded teaspoons of dough in miniature muffin pans that have been greased or lined with miniature cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 mins. or until lightly browned. Remove from pans and allow to cool. Make glaze and spread cupcake tops with it. Decorate with cherries. Makes 3 to 4 dozen.

To make glaze:
Combine sifted powdered sugar with enough of the cherry juice to make a glaze.

Keep this in mind for your next event when you need a pretty, dainty little cookie.

Becka

Fudge Puddles

Cookie Dough:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Chocolate Filling
2 cups chocolate chips
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and peanut butter. Add sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Blend well. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour. Roll into 48 1 inch balls and place in mini muffin tins. Bake at 325 degrees for 12-14 mins. Cool in pans for 10 mins. and then remove to racks to cool.

When cookies are cool make filling: Combine chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until chips melt. Spoon into a gallon size ziploc bag. Seal the bag and then clip off one of the corners. Pipe filling into cookies. Can garnish with chopped peanuts if desired. Cool. These freeze well. Leftover chocolate filling is delicious warmed and served over ice cream or pound cake.

Becka

Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dried blueberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl cream butter with sugars and vanilla. Add eggs then baking soda and salt. Stir in oats, flour, blueberries, and chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 mins. or until lightly browned. Cool briefly on cookie sheets before removing. Makes about 5 dozen small cookies.

You can substitute raisins or craisins for the blueberries. The white chips would be good with cranberries but you might want to use chocolate chips with the raisins or you could substitute chocolate covered raisins for a taste thrill.

On a totally unrelated note another wild creature was in our house this evening:

Becka

I'm hoping to have time this weekend to do another post about the wedding, but until then I thought I'd post this recipe that I already had here in the computer.

For Nora and Topher's wedding reception we had cake, groom's cake, fruit, a variety of cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, coffee, and punch. I realized that I had never posted the recipe for these cookies on the blog. They are one of our favorites. I found this recipe in a church cookbook years ago. Before the wedding I experimented and found that you can prepare the balls of cookie dough, roll them in powdered sugar and then freeze them on a tray. After they are frozen they can be slipped into a ziploc bag. When we baked them we just baked them for about two minutes longer than normal and they turned out great. This was a big timesaver in preparing for the wedding.

Double Chocolate Treasures

2 cups chocolate chips, divided
1 stick margarine or butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups oatmeal (not cooked)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
about 1 cup powdered sugar

Melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips and then set aside to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs, vanilla, and melted chocolate. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix into the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats and remaining cup of chocolate chips. Shape the dough into 1" balls and roll in powdered sugar, coating heavily. Place on cookie sheets (I like to line them with parchment) and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 mins. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheets. Roll in powdered sugar again while they are still warm if you like a heavily sugared cookie. Makes about 5 dozen.

Baby Ryan is absolutely darling and we have come up with any number of excuses to run out and see him. Here's one of his latest photos:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Becka

Aunt Bea's Fruit Drop Cookies

1 cup dates (chopped)
1 cup raisins (chopped)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 sticks margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (these are optional -- I usually omit)

Combine the dates, raisins, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in saucepan and cook about 5 mins. or until the mixture thickens and fruit softens. Set aside to cool about 20 mins.

Cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Blend in fruit and nuts. Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 mins. Makes about 8 dozen.

These are one of my favorite cookies. I really like them with the combination of dates and raisins, but you can make them with just the raisins if that's what you have on hand.

Becka

I recently had a birthday and I received two of these non-stick Madeleine pans from DH. I tried them out for the first time this week and made these lemony Madeleines. I have eaten Madeleines before, but I had never attempted to make them. I discovered that most of the recipes are basically sponge cake recipes that you bake in these special shell-shaped pans to produce tender, cake like cookies. I think they would be nice as refreshments for a shower or tea.

I work in an office with two other ladies. We often discuss books that we are reading or authors that we have enjoyed. This summer all three of us have been enjoying books by Alexander McCall Smith, a Scottish author who has written a delightful series of books about The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. The stories take place in Botswana, South Africa. They do not contain a lot of violence or bad language — the stories are primarily about relationships between people and you can learn a lot about the customs and life in Botswana. I have found the stories to be quite charming.

One thing that the ladies in the Number One Ladies Detective Agency do quite often is to drink Bush Tea.They also treat themselves to donuts on Fridays. I found some Kalahari Bush Tea at a local grocery store (Ingles) and on Friday we had a little tea party at work with the Bush Tea and Madeleines. The tea is a herbal tea and we tried a variety that was lemony. It went quite well with the lemon-flavored Madeleines. It was a fun way to end the week.

Becka

Have you ever heard of saucepan brownies? I had never heard the term before I read it in a little booklet many years ago, although I had made brownies using this method before I knew of the term. They are sometimes also called one bowl brownies. The idea is that you melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan (or in the microwave) and then combine with the other ingredients. I have found that brownies or bars prepared by this method are usually very moist, dense, and chewy rather than cake-like.

These Congo Bars are an example of saucepan brownies. I was given this recipe by a student many years ago and we have enjoyed Congo Bars ever since. They are very rich and delicious, so cut them small and plan on sharing a plate of them with friends.

Congo Bars

2 1/4 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine (approximately 10 Tbsps.)
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt butter or margarine. Add brown sugar and slightly beaten eggs. In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to first mixture and stir to blend and then stir in the chocolate chips. Spread in a 9" x 13" pan that has been greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 mins. or until the bars test clean. Cool and cut into bars.

Here are the ingredients:

Here's everything mixed together:

Here they are ready to pop into the oven:

Since I was planning to give most of these bars away I lined the pan with non-stick foil instead of greasing and flouring it so I could remove the bars from the pan to make them easier to cut.

Give these a try if you need a quick, delicious bar recipe.

Becka

I got this recipe many, many years ago from my friend Sue. Over the years my daughters and I have made hundreds of these big cookies. One year DD, Nora, made these cookies in heart shaped pans for every room on her hall in the dormitory!

You can put all the dough in a 9" x 13" pan and cut them into bars or you can bake the dough in two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans. The round "big cookies" can then be turned out onto a paper plate or cake board and these make really nice treats, especially for hungry college students. They are also a nice dessert to include when you are taking supper to someone.

Here are the ingredients:

Here's the recipe:

Big Cookies

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix cake mix, oil, water, egg, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread in two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans that have been greased and floured and lined with parchment or waxed paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins. Cool in pans for 10 mins. and then turn out onto a cooling rack covered with a towel. Immediately turn right side up onto a plate or cake board. Cut into wedges to serve.

If you are baking in a 9" x 13" pan you don't need to line the pan with waxed paper. Bake the same way and cut into bars. You can decorate these with the person's name and a border of icing for a birthday or other event. You can also use a chocolate cake mix for a brownie like version. You can also drop the dough onto cookie sheets and bake as you would bake regular chocolate chip cookies.

Here I'm tracing the pan onto waxed paper:

Here is the pan greased, floured, and lined:

Here's the cookie dough ready to go into the oven:

This picture shows how to flip the cookie out onto a towel lined cooling rack:

Here's the important step of peeling off the waxed paper before flipping the cookie right side up onto a plate:

One of DD Megan's friends made a batch with a lemon cake mix one time -- I don't recommend the lemon.

Becka

Snowballs
1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Additional powdered sugar for rolling

Cream butter and then add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour and chopped nuts. Form into small balls a little smaller than a walnut. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 mins. Cookies should be brown on the bottom only. Let cool slightly and then roll in additional powdered sugar. After they cool a bit more roll in the sugar a second time to give them a more "snowy" appearance. Makes about three dozen.

Another family favorite is this peanut butter fudge. This is another recipe I got years ago from that recipe program on the radio. It, too, is very simple, but very good. Mrs. Pra---, who used to teach in the RTV department at school gave this recipe and said that her boys called pieces of this fudge erasers because it looks like those brown art gum erasers. It is good plain, but over the top with the chocolate layer added. Sorry there's no picture--haven't made this one yet.

Peanut Butter Erasers
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine evaporated milk and sugar in a saucepan and cook to softball stage (a drop of the mixture with form a ball when dropped in a cup of cold water. The ball will be soft and will flatten when you try to pick it up on your finger.) Stir constantly while this mixture is cooking and be sure to use a big enough pan as the sugar mixture will froth up.
Remove the pan from the heat and then add the peanut butter. Stir the fudge until it is about the consistency of runny mashed potatoes and then quickly pour it into a buttered 7" x 11" pan. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and let sit for about 5 mins. until the chips soften and you can spread them on top of the fudge. Let cool completely and cut into pieces. Enjoy your delicious fudge!

Becka

Last weekend I made these butter pecan cookies. I didn't have any of the unusual flavorings so I just used 1 Tbsp. vanilla. The combination of the butterscotch chips, toasted pecans, and the sugar/salt coating is very good.

I also made this Mandelbrot, which my husband, the former German teacher,told me means Almond Bread. These cookies are like biscotti. The recipe on the blog uses walnuts, but since I had a large bag of almonds I used those along with the chocolate chips. These are delicious!

I also recently tried these Cranberry Pistachio cookies from a blog called Joy of Baking.

My friend, Cheri, shared some fresh pistachios received as a gift from a relative in California. The green pistachios and red cranberries made a very pretty and tasty cookie. These are a refrigerator cookie and the dough can be made well advance of when you bake the cookies and refrigerated or frozen. I can remember my Aunt Hazel making refrigerator cookies when I was a little girl -- long before you could buy refrigerated cookie dough in the grocery store.

How about you out there in blog-land -- have you tried any new cookie recipes this year that you are willing to share?

Becka

I don't often bake cookies any more since it's just the two of us. I actually kind of miss making them. It seemed like when the children were all at home someone always needed cookies for some event or another. Just last week Rob mentioned that he was hungry for these Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies. I got this recipe from my Aunt Nana several years ago and it has become one of our favorites. These are a puffy, soft, cake-like sugar cookie.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups flour (I use bread flour)

Cream margarine and sugars. Add eggs. Stir together dry ingredients and add alternately with the buttermilk.
Chill this dough for several hours or overnight. You can either roll out this dough and cut with cookie cutters or prepare it the lazy way that I do it by scooping it out with a scoop and flattening the balls of dough with your floured fingers. I find that these bake best if you bake them on parchment lined baking sheets. I have small cookie sheets and find I can only put six on a sheet at a time. I get about two dozen cookies from this recipe. Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 mins. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheets. Frost with the following icing:

Browned Butter Frosting
6 Tbsps. butter or margarine
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsps. milk or cream

Heat the butter over medium heat until a delicate brown. (A stainless steel pan works better than a non-stick pan for this so you can see how it is browning) Remove from heat and mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and the milk. Spread on cookies while still warm. Let dry completely before storing the cookies. It works best to place waxed paper between the layers. This should be enough for one batch of cookies.

Scooping out the cookie dough:

Patting out the cookies:

Becka